Guilt free tasty treats needed for the New Year?! A PA to the rescue!

So we’re still in January (just), everyone’s favourite month for detoxing, dieting and generally shunning all the indulgences that we enjoyed so shamelessly in December! But I find that as we near the end of this tough little month, the cravings for treats become harder and harder to silence, yet the guilt at not being able to quite make it to February 1st is also hideous! This year I decided I needed to hunt out treats that were NOT a.) yet another piece of fruit, or b.) a ‘low cal’ version that frankly has such a long list of artificial ingredients that you wonder whether the full fat version might actually be better for you and c.) the full fat version, (not until February at least!)

So, I did a little googling, and lo and behold a PA has come to my rescue! The lady in question is Jenna Barclay, who has held arguably one of the most sought after PA positions in the UK- PA to Tamara Mellon, founder of Jimmy Choo! Not content on resting on her laurels, Jenna has now founded her own business- Up Cakes (www.upcakes.co.uk). Jenna is a nutritional therapist in training, and she became frustrated with the lack of products on the market that were free from refined sugar, dairy, eggs and wheat, but still tasted like the 'real thing'. She began experimenting- making cupcakes, brownies, cookies, biscotti, and other sweet treats that could fit into a healthy lifestyle and now her delicious ‘choc bites’ are available online to purchase. Suitable for people with a number of dietary intolerances, and those of you who, like me, has a sweet tooth that won’t stay quiet, but a conscience that wants to stay a little healthy!

Such a brilliant business idea can only be the work of a talented PA!

Laura Richardson FAPA DipPA
UK 'PA of the Year' 2010/11

Banks fail business again

The government has been accused of failing in new attempts to secure an agreement with the UK's biggest banks over small business lending, it has been reported. According to the BBC, governance issues are jeopardising the provision of up to £200 million to the ailing sector in 2011.

Banking bosses are concerned about targets for lending to weaker businesses, believing such loans may represent a poor investment for shareholders. The news provider said an announcement on the lending programme was expected last week, but negotiations with the banks are now set to continue.

Gareth Osborne of APA said: “The Government has not done enough to force the cooperation of the banking sector. It is time for the Banks to recognise that small business investment is the only way to re-inflate employment and employment is the only long term solution for recovery. Unless they are planning on putting it all on a sure-thing at Ascot (and they tried that strategy with the sub-prime market and lost the lot!) government should toughen up and force the banks to act.”

Speaking to the BBC, Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor said: "At this critical time for our economy and for the prospects of a strong recovery, the banks should be playing their part in supporting small and medium-sized businesses".

APA

PA Pathway

With New Year’s resolutions well-and truly made and lapsed, now is the time for some serious commitment to your career and the future. APA has two solid recommendations for PAs looking to develop, progress and reap greater reward in an ever tightening economy.

The watch word in business for the coming years has to be: ‘productivity’. With companies looking to employ fewer people or achieve higher output everyone will have to be more effective or work harder. To be more effective requires a serious strategy and enhanced knowledge.

For a PA, one of the best investments for an increase in effectiveness is in training and development and there is no better programme to enrol for than the APA Diploma in Personal Assistance (DipPA). Courses are now running monthly across the UK.

Shown left are some of the latest delegates (L:R) are: Abbie Reynolds, Carol Rockley and Andrew Barrett.

The second suggestion for career-minded PAs is to start a CPD (continuing professional development) regime – see the APA website for more details.

Gareth, APA

Tough times for those without experience

Commenting on the Government's plans to expand work experience opportunities, Gareth Osborne, Director General of APA said: "The recent recession has been particularly hard on young people. They are now likely to remain at the back of the hiring queue; as more experienced people cut in front, if they don't gain the opportunities to make them more attractive to employers.”

Research by CIPD shows employers are reluctant to hire from groups where they feel basic job skills, experience and reliability are lacking. Work experience is a perfect way to break the vicious circle of ‘no experience means no job’, and gives young people an opportunity to develop and demonstrate the skills and commitment employers need.

APA is committed to working with government to make a success of efforts to get more people off welfare and back into work, and I urge APA members to go out of their way to make use of the new work experience matching service that the Government and Jobcentre Plus have unveiled this week.

The CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook recently found that:

- 16% of employers exclude 19-24 year olds with few or no qualifications from the recruitment process
- A further 4% exclude people with a history of long-term unemployment
- Younger workers with no qualifications and those with a history of long-term unemployment are deemed to perform worse than other employees

APA

Petrol prices leap

VAT and fuel duty increases at the turn of the year have helped to push up monthly petrol prices by their biggest amount in recent times. The average price of diesel is within a penny of the record set in July 2008. The barrel price for oil is $96. And further increases in April are projected to add up to another 6.0 ppl.

Average Unleaded prices have risen by 6.2 ppl from 122.1 ppl to 128.3 ppl. Diesel prices have also risen, by 6.6 ppl, from 126.2 ppl to 132.8 ppl. The price difference between unleaded and diesel has risen to 4.5 ppl.

Northern Ireland recorded the highest price for unleaded at 142.9 ppl. Yorkshire and Humberside recorded the lowest price for unleaded at 122.9 3 ppl. Wales and Northern Ireland recorded the highest diesel price at 133.5 ppl. Yorkshire and Humberside have the cheapest diesel at 131.9 ppl. Supermarket prices for unleaded also rose over the month by 6.5 ppl to 126.7 ppl. The gap between supermarket prices and the UK average for unleaded has fallen 1.6 ppl.

The UK has the fifth highest unleaded price in Europe and the second highest diesel price.

APA will be lobbying Ministers on the massive rise in pump prices over the last 12 months and will be asking the Treasury to look again at the need for further increases in duty. Member's views are welcomed.

APA

PA voted Queen of Comedy

Former PA Miranda Hart has triumphed at the British Comedy Awards, walking away with three titles, including Best Female Comedy Actress.

Her BBC Two sitcom Miranda - which she stars in and writes - won Best New TV Comedy, and the comedian also picked up the People's Choice Award - chosen by viewers.

Miranda said she was "genuinely thrilled" by her success.

Gareth, APA

Train now to be ahead of the rest

With ever tightening budgets, it is not uncommon for training to be one of the first things to go when the going gets tough. But if you look at those with an eye to the future, reality suggests that quieter times are the best to invest in re-skilling your staff.

Shown right are some of the NHS PA staff to recently attend the APA ‘PA as a Manager’ Course; a programme of training designed to help PAs better understand why what they already do is managerial and how to better understand the art of management and employ it for the benefit of their Boss and the business.

Shown (L:R) are: Sue Brown, Sonia Ferguson, Loraine Toynton and Denize Bossley.

So make 2011 the year you establish a PA Career Path and look to APA training programmes and qualifications to enhance your opportunity and reward as we [hopefully] exit hard times.

Gareth, APA

Jobless Britain

The latest figures published today by the Office for National Statistics have shown a rise in the number of people out of work which has increased by 49,000 to 2.5 million in the three months to November last year.

Gareth Osborne of APA said: “This is not unexpected but what is particularly concerning is the growth of 32,000 in the number of 16 to 24 year olds not in work and resulting in an all-time high of 951,000 for this age group. The UK is in serious danger of creating a workless generation of young people; without the chance of a job, training or relevant education.
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“With the Government claiming to be pro business, pro growth and pro jobs, we will being looking to it to fuel job creation as a national imperative. With the overall jobless totals set to rise further as public sector redundancies start to bite, it is essential that the entrepreneurial (many small business) sector of the economy be enabled to employ people with the minimum of fuss and associated cost. APA will work with Government to identify and support innovative employment programmes.”

APA

Shared parental leave cautiously welcomed

APA has today commented on new proposals on shared parental leave, set out in Nick Clegg's speech to Demos this morning.

It has given a cautious welcome to the proposals and will wait to see the detail of how employers will be affected. APA believes the greatest challenge will come from extending the existing entitlement to paternity leave in a way that doesn't increase uncertainty for employers; something it believes should be resisted at all cost.

It believes that the principle of moving towards a more equal sharing of the burden of childcare between mothers and fathers is good. There is no doubt that women are placed at a disadvantage in the labour market by employers' concerns about the likelihood they will take time off at some stage to start a family. If men and women have similar entitlements to leave following the birth of a child, this should go a long way to relieving employers of these concerns.

“This can only reduce the likelihood that women will be discriminated against when they apply for jobs, for promotion or in finally bringing pay-equality to the labour market. But the devil is in the detail and we need to see the full proposal before we give our total support.”

APA welcomes the Government's commitment to extend the right to flexible working to all employees believing the opportunity to work flexibly increases employee engagement as well as helping employees achieve a better work life balance. But flexibility cannot be total. Employers need to be able to plan ahead with some confidence that they know when individual employees will be available. So the proposal to allow fathers and mothers to take parental leave in blocks, for example, rather than all at once, may be a step too far and needs to be looked at carefully.

Gareth, APA.

Training Boom

APA (the Association of Personal Assistants) has started 2011 with training bookings soaring for the months ahead. In January alone over 50 PAs are booked to attend APA supported programmes and interested is also growing for it’s newly launched ‘APA Accredited’ scheme for company in-house training.

APA Director General, Gareth Osborne, said: “This is the busiest start to a year for APA so far and we already have places booked on courses throughout the year but this shouldn’t put anyone off from applying. We are extremely versatile and will put on additional course on where demand is high and even bring in extra quality trainers. I am pleased to see that the public sector is not significantly cutting training for its PAs; but I recognise this might be at the expense of other savings elsewhere. The APA Diploma (DipPA) is the most popular programme and, as it serves to give a prior learning exemption for the PA Degree, and adds to greatest value for a PAs career path.”

Shown left are the latest PA attendees (L:R): Esther Burke, Emmanuelle Waters, Chrystal Nagle, Stephanie Young, Rosie Coomber, Jade Mayer and Nargis Awan (actually HR).

For more details about APA training and qualifications visit http://www.paprofessional.com

APA

Women should prepare better for return to the workplace

Mothers returning to work after a period of maternity leave should ensure they do their research, a female career development firm has said. They suggested that "planning is everything" and recommended mothers are "very clear" on what they want well before they go back to work. And it could never be a better time to heed that advice as business attitudes are getting tougher.

"Start taking action well in advance of returning to work. Speak to your boss and agree roles, responsibilities, work hours and home working arrangements," she stated. "All this can take several weeks, so the sooner you set the wheels in motion the better."

A recent survey by Regus found that the number of firms planning to hire mothers returning to work has fallen radically over the past year. Just over a quarter of small and medium-sized businesses are planning to do so, compared to 28 per cent 12 months ago. The study found that 38 per cent of employers still fear that working mothers may show less commitment and flexibility than other workers. Some 31 per cent of employers believe working mums will leave shortly after returning to have another child.

APA equally advices to prepare, consider all the options that might be suggested and have answers ready. Members can view their rights and other issues in the Members’ section of the website (knowledge Zone, Your Family area).

Gareth, APA

All change!

Apparently we have all heard of the YMCA (now The ‘Y’) but the YWCA doesn’t have the same impact and the organisation has just changed its name for the second time in 10 years - and this time to Platform 51; apparently to appeal to the 51% of the world’s population who are female?

The Young Women's Christian Association was originally founded in 1855 and opened a network of hostels for young women who were coming to London for the first time and for Florence Nightingale's nurses, en route to and from the Crimea. In 2002 it changed its name to YWCA.

As a marketeer I know very well that there are some things that should just be left alone. I still call Aviva, Norwich Union and Accenture, Andersen Consulting but I suppose if I was totally right then Brad’s Drink would never have become Pepsi-Cola. But many organisations (including some professional bodies) will freely admit that changing your name doesn’t always revitalise your fortunes. I doubt APA will be changing in the near future; unless Platform 51 start a trend and we adopt ‘Level 97’ to represent the 97% of PAs who are women.

Gareth, APA

Time for the Bonus Ball

I didn’t think much of 2011 would pass before open season for ‘Banker Bashing’ started again and today’s revelation about bank bonuses has certainly refuelled the fire.

I have to say I found the news coverage, including a live interview by Andrew Marr of the Prime Minister, a little premature; because the actual terms of the bonus is not agreed yet according to David Cameron, but it appears that the Boss of RBS is in line for a bonus in 2011 of £2.5 million. This will be on top of his meagre pittance of £4.5 in basic pay.

Now I can easily argue the case for bonuses in business and agree they play an important part in attracting and retaining high achievers but I have to say I find the RBS proposal excessive. APA members have been writing continuously about the role of the Banks and their part in the current economic crisis. Not to mention the vitriolic way in which small businesses blame them for lack of debt (let alone equity) finance. So how can any bonus be justified in an environment, especially where the British Taxpayer is the major shareholder (in the case of RBS around 84%). As one member recently observed: “For every £1 million in bonuses, another 30 fully tax paying employees at the average national wage could be placed in work. And around twice that at the minimum wage!

In the same breath the PM condemned the ‘vast pit of debt’, which was poetic, given that we normally associate vipers with pits and at least two pits (OK, Pitts) have been prime minister. Perhaps its time to fill in the pits and redistribute the bonuses.

Gareth, APA

Farewell Christmas and on with the serious stuff

I wouldn’t want anybody to think I don’t have any work to do but …. Earlier this morning I opened a box of branded chocolate biscuits, dropped off by a supplier, and handed them around the office. We quickly concluded that they weren’t good and started to question the quality of the chocolate. It definitely seemed inferior to the normal product that we all know and love.

It became such a topic of discussion that we extended our survey to all 12 people in the office and even sent out for a control sample of the regular product from the local shop. Unanimously we have concluded that the Christmas-branded biscuits are covered with a blander, less chocolaty and dare we say ‘cheaper tasting’ variant. So the question arises: “Are we being fobbed off with a poorer chocolate but attracted by the well-known brand?” I would be interested to hear the opinion of others; especially as the ‘Great Feast of Chocolate’; aka Easter, approaches.

Aimee Lewis, FAPA

APA stamps down on VAT

VAT has always been a vodka and tonic for me, so 20% sounds about the right ratio of V to T for a long cold version with ice.

Sadly this 20% relates to the new rate of value added tax and sounds extremely penal to me and not something that APA accepts without issuing a warning to Government that it will definitely have a negative impact on business; especially small business. Now that being said, we all live in the real world and UKG has few options available to increase its income, VAT is its chosen vehicle and we have to accept it. But we can do something to help new members!

In a meeting between Christmas and the New Year APA decided to take action and reduce its joining fees by cancelling the first year registration element to compensate for the hike in VAT. So, from today (04/01/2011) the three membership grades will be charged as follows: Associate £45 + VAT, Member £55 + VAT and Fellow £75 + VAT.

We hope this attracts potential Members to join the family of APA PAs.

Shelley, Membership Manager, APA

10 New Year Resolutions for PAs

The start of the year is a good time to reflect on your business's progress over the past year and plan how you want your career and business to develop in the coming twelve months. Do you want increased success in 2011 or the chance to enjoy the success you've already achieved more? These are our 10 New Year's resolutions designed to help you strike a better work-life balance, so you can achieve a truly satisfying success in this bright New Year.

- Encourage your Boss to learn how to delegate and then do more of it.
- Help promote your business regularly and consistently.
- Make business planning a weekly event.
- Learn something new.
- Find new business organisation’s or networking group.
- Give something back to your community.
- Put time for you on your calendar.
- Set realistic goals.
- Don't make do; get a new one.
- Drop what's not working for you and move on.

Achieving a healthy work-life balance is like maintaining a good relationship; you have to keep working on it. But if you apply these New Year's resolutions throughout the year, success is more likely to follow!

For a more detailed explanation of these resolutions APA Members can go to the 'You' section in the Knowledge Zone of the Members' Area: http://www.paprofessional.com/index.php?id=857

And an 11th might be: Enter the Hays & The Times PA of the Year Awards 2011 and be rewarded for your success as a professional PA. The Awards launch on 10th Jan 2011 (watch this space).

Gareth, APA

APA wishes all PAs, especially Members, a successful and prosperous 2011.

Gareth & the team